Backpack with flexible frame

ABSTRACT

A backpack comprising a frame and a harness attached to the frame. The frame has a loop structure defining an opening and a torsion panel traversing the opening. The loop structure may be formed of a coil spring covered by a sheath. The backpack may further strapping, such as bungees, for supporting removable pack bags.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 62/043,883, filed on Aug. 29, 2014, the entirety of which beinghereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

One of the advantages of using a conventional, external-frame backpackis that it allows a hiker to carry heavy, bulky loads with maximumcomfort and efficiency, and with minimum fatigue over an extended periodof time. By stabilizing the full contents of the backpack upon alightweight rigid frame, and then by distributing that load efficientlyonto the hiker's shoulders, torso, and hips while in a walking motion,its advantages as a large-capacity load-carrier are obvious; however,these are all negated by a critical design flaw.

A conventional, rigidly-braced external-frame backpack is not capable offlexing in unison with the hiker's natural walking motion. Furthermore,in the current configuration, rigidly-braced side-rails suspend the fullload directly off the hip belt causing great discomfort to thebackpacker, rather than on the lumbar region where it would be mostcomfortable. Finally, this arrangement causes the backpack contents topivot with each natural hip motion, affecting an eccentric momentum atthe top of the pack bag that causes undue fatigue to the user's neck,shoulders and upper torso.

Therefore, a need exists for an improved backpack that is verticallystable, and yet, still able to flex torsionally in unison with thehiker's body while in natural walking motion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIVE CONCEPTS

To resolve the abovementioned design flaw, the inventive conceptsdisclosed herein are directed to a backpack with a flexibleexternal-frame having a vertical torsion panel allowing a load to bedistributed efficiently to the hiker's body, and to rotate along the X-Yaxis in unison with the natural walking motion.

To provide both structural rigidity and torsional flexibility, the frameincludes a continuous coil-spring inner frame encased in an outersheath, which is then fastened via hub connectors to a vertical torsionpanel to create a vertically stable, yet torsionally-flexible externalframe.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate one or more implementationsdescribed herein and, together with the description, explain theseimplementations. The drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale, andcertain features and certain views of the figures may be shownexaggerated, to scale, or in schematic in the interest of clarity andconciseness. Not every component may be labeled in every drawing. Likereference numerals in the figures may represent and refer to the same orsimilar element or function. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a backpack constructed in accordancewith the inventive concepts disclosed herein.

FIG. 2 is an exploded, perspective view of the backpack of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of a frame.

FIG. 4 a side elevational view of the backpack of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the presently disclosed andclaimed inventive concepts in detail, it is to be understood that thepresently disclosed and claimed inventive concepts are not limited intheir application to the details of construction, experiments, exemplarydata, and/or the arrangement of the components set forth in thefollowing description or illustrated in the drawings. The presentlydisclosed and claimed inventive concepts are capable of otherembodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also,it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employedherein is for purpose of description and should not be regarded aslimiting.

In the following detailed description of embodiments of the inventiveconcepts, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide amore thorough understanding of the inventive concepts. However, it willbe apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the inventiveconcepts disclosed and claimed herein may be practiced without thesespecific details. In other instances, well-known features have not beendescribed in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the instantdisclosure.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,”“including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements or stepsis not necessarily limited to only those elements or steps and mayinclude other elements, steps, or features not expressly listed orinherently present therein.

Unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to an inclusive orand not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfiedby anyone of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (ornot present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present),and both A and B are true (or present).

In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed to describe elementsand components of the embodiments herein. This is done merely forconvenience and to give a general sense of the inventive concepts. Thisdescription should be read to include one or at least one and thesingular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meantotherwise.

Throughout this disclosure and the claims, the terms “about,”“approximately,” and “substantially” are intended to signify that theitem being qualified is not limited to the exact value specified, butincludes some slight variations or deviations therefrom, caused bymeasuring error, manufacturing tolerances, stress exerted on variousparts, wear and tear, or combinations thereof, for example.

The use of the term “at least one” will be understood to include one aswell as any quantity more than one, including but not limited to eachof, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100, and all integerstherebetween. The term “at least one” may extend up to 100 or 1000 ormore, depending on the term to which it is attached; in addition, thequantities of 100/1000 are not to be considered limiting, as higherlimits may also produce satisfactory results. Singular terms shallinclude pluralities and plural terms shall include the singular unlessindicated otherwise.

The term “or combinations thereof” as used herein refers to allpermutations and/or combinations of the listed items preceding the term.For example, “A, B, C, or combinations thereof” is intended to includeat least one of: A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC, and if order is importantin a particular context, also BA, CA, CB, CBA, BCA, ACB, BAC, or CAB.Continuing with this example, expressly included are combinations thatcontain repeats of one or more item or term, such as BB, AAA, AAB, BBC,AAABCCCC, CBBAAA, CABABB, and so forth. The skilled artisan willunderstand that typically there is no limit on the number of items orterms in any combination, unless otherwise apparent from the context.

Finally, as used herein any reference to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular element, feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in oneembodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarilyreferring to the same embodiment, although the inventive conceptsdisclosed herein are intended to encompass all combinations andpermutations including one or more of the features of the embodimentsdescribed herein.

DRAWING LEGEND 1. Inner Coil Spring 2. Outer Tube Fabric Sheath 3.Coupling Tube 4. Non-Removable Fasteners 5. Self-Adhesive Hub Connectors6. Vertical Torsion Panel 7. Modular Shoulder Pads 8. Modular Torso Pads9. Modular Waist Pads 10. Hook and Loop Fasteners 11. VerticalDownstraps 12. Upper Load Leveling Straps 13. Belt Halves 14. SideAdjustment Straps 15. Side Fastening Straps 16. Sternum Straps 17.Bungee Restraint Cords 18. Bungee Adjustment Straps 19. Vertical WebbingRestraint 20. Removable Pack Bags

Referring now to the drawings, an exemplary embodiment of a backpackconstructed in accordance with the inventive concepts disclosed hereinwill now be described.

The Backpack includes a (1) Coil Spring Inner Frame made of alightweight, durable, plastic spring fully encased in a (2) Fabric-TubeOuter Sheath made of sewn (or braided, or woven) canvas-like material.These two components are then mated using an inner (3) Coupling Tube and(4) Fasteners, forming a continuous and flexible outer frame connectedvia (5) Self-Adhesive Hub Connectors to a (6) Vertical Torsion Panelmade from a vertically-oriented panel, allowing the frame to be flexibleonly along the (X-Y) torsional plane. This panel may be shaped toapproximate the general curvature of the hiker's shoulders, torso, lowerback and buttocks.

The coil spring may be made of a length of plastic strapping material,such as that used to tie lumber pallets. This material may then beturned into a continuous closed coil using standard spring-manufacturingequipment and procedures similar to making a metal spring from flatwire. The coil spring may then be placed on a turning mandrel, where theloose coils are closed and sealed into a continuous, closed tube-spring.This closed tube-spring may then be encased in a continuous outer sheathmade of a suitable material, such as a canvas-like fabric, which caneither be sewn into a tube using flat strips of fabric, or it can bewoven or braided as a continuous tube.

The coil spring and sheath may be attached to one another using aplastic coupling tube and non-removable fasteners. To perform thismating, the sheath fabric may be tucked into both open ends of the coilspring with sufficient insertion length to be locked into position withthe coupling tube. Because all these materials melt, a heated probe canpenetrate the walls of the spring, sheath and coupler, and permanentlyheld in place with non-removable fasteners such as “pine tree clips.”

One of the advantages inventive concepts disclosed herein is the“synergy” created by the discontinuous compressive force created by thecoil spring against the continuous tensile force created by the sheathtube. By containing the mechanical energy of the spring inside a tensiletube, this produced a flexible, yet stable outer brace.

The coils spring/sheath outer brace is shaped into a continuous outerring, which is then fastened to an interior torsion panel composed of avertically stable, yet torsionally flexible material. In one embodiment,the material is a twinwall corrugated plastic panel, which isstructurally rigid along its Z-axis, and yet, is torsionally flexiblealong its X-Y axis. Furthermore, plastic twinwall can be shaped toapproximate the basic profile of a hiker's torso. Finally, twinwallpanel also provides a surface for attaching it to the outer brace viahub connectors.

In one embodiment, the hub connectors must be spaced at regularintervals along the outer brace. To achieve the desired stability andflexibility, the hubs connectors may be permanently fastened to thevertical torsion panel. To this end, the hub connectors may be made of asuitable material that allows it to be shaped to wrap around the outerbrace and also have a flat attachment area parallel to the twinwall. Inone embodiment, the hub connectors may be “VHB-type” structural adhesivetape fasteners, making the hub connectors self-adhesive. The hubconnectors can be made from a variety of materials, ranging from metal,carbon fiber, or plastic with sufficient bonding coefficient to hold theconnector to the twinwall panel, while allowing the outer brace to shiftthrough the connection while the hiker is in a natural walking motion.

The backpack may further (a) an adjustable harness and (b) rearwardbungee restraints for securing removable pack bags. In one embodiment,the Harness may include (7) Modular Shoulder, (8) Torso, and (9) WaistPadding shaped to fit the user's individual anatomy using acorresponding system of (10) Hook and Loop Fasteners, which also allowsthe harness to be positioned optimally on the frame.

In complement with the modular padding, a system of webbing straps withhardware may include (11) Vertical Downstraps to attach the lower endsof the shoulder pads to the frame; (12) Upper Load Leveling Straps topull the load closer or further away from the shoulders as needed; (13)Adjustable Belt Halves to properly fit the waist; (14) Side AdjustmentStraps to adjust the position the waist pads; (15) Side Fastening Strapsto fasten the waist pads securely to the sides of the frame; and (16) ASternum Strap to adjust the position of the shoulder pads across thechest.

In one embodiment, the backpack may include a course of (17) BungeeRestraint Cords that pass between the hub connectors and the verticaltorsion panel to provide secure anchoring points for restrainingmultiple removable pack bags on a rearward open platform. These bungeecords also receive (18) Bungee Webbing Straps which, in concert with the(19) Vertical Webbing Restraint, to completely stabilize multiple (20)Removable Pack Bags.

From the above description, it is clear that the inventive conceptsdisclosed herein are well adapted to carry out the objects and to attainthe advantages mentioned herein as well as those inherent in theinvention. While exemplary embodiments of the inventive concepts havebeen described for purposes of this disclosure, it will be understoodthat numerous changes may be made which will readily suggest themselvesto those skilled in the art and which are accomplished within the spiritof the inventive concept disclosed and claimed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A backpack, comprising: a frame including a loopstructure defining an opening and a torsion panel traversing theopening, the loop structure being formed of a coil spring covered by asheath; and a harness attached to the frame.
 2. The backpack of claim 1,wherein the coiled spring is continuous.
 3. The backpack of claim 1,wherein the torsion panel is corrugated.
 4. The backpack of claim 1,wherein the coil spring is formed of a length of plastic strappingmaterial wrapped in a helical pattern.